Bride-to-be tragically killed while driving to bachelorette party

Bride-to-be tragically killed while driving to bachelorette party

A young mother and bride-to-be was tragically killed in a head-on collision in Missouri while on her way to her bachelorette party on June 20. Her best friend, the driver, survived the crash.

Listening to Taylor Swift while on their way to the Lake of the Ozarks, Collette M. Moreno, 26, and Ashley Theobald, 26, were stuck behind a line of trucks while Theobald drove her 2013 Chevrolet Malibu southbound on Missouri Highway 5.

“She has really bad asthma and there were a few trucks in front of us that had really bad exhausts and she was coughing, so I was like okay we have to pass these,” Theobald recounts the fatal accident to FOX 4.

"According to the Missouri Highway Patrol’s accident report, shortly before 3 p.m. on Friday the Malibu attempted to pass another vehicle at the same time a 25-year-old male driver in a 1999 Dodge Ram pickup truck heading northbound was cresting a hill," reports FOX 4. "The two vehicles attempted to swerve out of each other’s way to avoid collision; however the truck still ended up striking the passenger side of the Malibu, sending the vehicle off the left side of the road. The Dodge traveled off the right side after impact."

Moreno died from her injuries around 5:30 p.m. at the University Hospital in Columbia, Missouri. She leaves behind her five-year-old son.

“I was talking to her. She couldn’t talk back but she was nodding at me,” Theobald shares with FOX 4. “I didn’t know it was as bad as it was because she wasn’t physically super beaten-up.”

Moreno was set to marry Jesse Arcobasso, 28, on July 26 in Jamaica with Theobald as her maid of honor.

Theobald now faces traffic charges for careless and imprudent driving, however, no criminal charges were filed.

The Collette Moreno-Arcobasso Memorial Fund was established in Moreno's honor for her son, Brayden. Additional information on making a donation can be found here.

Julianne Cassidy

A city girl gone country, Philadelphia-bred journalist Julianne Cassidy relocated to be a Nashville-based digital editor for Scripps Media, Inc.

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